An amygdala hijack describes a very fast, intense emotional reaction that is disproportionate to the situation — one in which the brain’s emotional machinery (the amygdala) essentially “takes over” before our thinking brain can intervene.
The result often involves impulsive or reflexive behaviour — for instance snapping in anger, freezing in fear, or shutting down emotionally — that we may regret later.
Key Takeaways
- Amygdala hijack is an emotional overreaction response to stress. This activates the fight-or-flight response and disables one’s rational, reasoned response.
- Amygdala hijack can happen to anyone and is usually triggered by something, causing the amygdala to ‘disable’ the frontal lobes and take control of your emotional responses.
- Sometimes we have suppressed emotions that suddenly become prominent when triggered by past memories, which then results in activation of the fight or flight response.
- This triggering can result in inappropriate or irrational behavior, such as shouting at someone you care about.
- After the amygdala hijack, we may feel emotions of shame, embarrassment, or guilt.
Where the term came from
Psychologist Daniel Goleman coined the phrase in his 1995 book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.
Goleman used the term to illustrate how, under strong emotional arousal, the emotional brain can overwhelm the rational brain, bypassing the slower, more considered processing in the neocortex.
The amygdala’s role in emotions
The amygdala is an almond-shaped structure deep in each hemisphere of the brain, part of the limbic system, which helps evaluate sensory input for emotional significance (especially threats).
When it detects a match to a threatening or emotionally charged pattern (based on memory), it can trigger the fight-flight (or freeze) response very quickly, often before the frontal lobes have had time to assess whether the threat is real.
In such cases, the amygdala “hijacks” control of behaviour by activating stress pathways (via the HPA axis), rerouting processing away from the thinking parts of the brain.
Signs You’re Experiencing an Amygdala Hijack
Emotional signs
When an amygdala hijack occurs, the emotional response tends to be sudden, intense, and disproportionate to the trigger.
Typical emotional signs include:
After the fact, individuals often report regret, embarrassment, or guilt for how they responded.
Because the hijack bypasses slower, rational processing, the reaction can feel almost automatic, leaving the person surprised at their own behavior when they “come to.”
Physical signs
The body’s fight-or-flight system is activated during an amygdala hijack, producing a cascade of physical symptoms.
Common signs include:
- A racing heart
- Sweaty or clammy skin
- Dilated pupils
- Goosebumps
- Trembling or shaking
- Fast shallow breathing
- Tense muscles
Sometimes people also feel a sense of being unable to think clearly (a narrowing of attention or tunnel vision), as working memory and rational thought temporarily shut down.
Everyday examples
In everyday life, amygdala hijacks often show up in situations of interpersonal stress or perceived threat (even if not life-threatening).
For example:
- Someone might snap at a loved one over a small misunderstanding or criticism, reacting more harshly than the situation warrants.
- In traffic or driving, a minor frustration (e.g., someone cutting in) might trigger road rage, with swearing, honking, or aggressive gestures.
- In contexts like public speaking or performance, sudden anxiety or panic may arise, causing freezing, stammering, or an emotional shut-down before calm thinking returns.
What Causes an Amygdala Hijack?
The Brain’s “Fast Track” Response – Thalamus → Amygdala Bypassing Logic
Amygdala hijacks occur because the brain has a rapid “low road” pathway: sensory inputs go from the thalamus directly to the amygdala—its emotional center—before reaching the cortex.
If the amygdala determines a stimulus resembles a threat (based on past experiences), it immediately activates the stress response via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, overriding the slower, reasoning-driven cortex.
This triggers a fight–flight (or freeze) response in milliseconds—often before conscious awareness—resulting in reflexive, emotional reactions rather than rational responses.
Common Triggers
Amygdala hijacks aren’t only sparked by life-threatening events. In everyday life, several modern stressors can set them off:
- Work pressure and deadlines – feeling overwhelmed by tasks or performance expectations can activate the stress response.
- Criticism and rejection – harsh feedback from a boss, teacher, or partner may be perceived as a threat, prompting an outsized reaction.
- Conflict and arguments – disagreements at home, school, or work can trigger strong emotional responses, especially if they feel personal.
- Social anxiety and judgment – fear of embarrassment, public speaking, or being evaluated by others often hijacks the amygdala.
- Everyday frustrations – small irritations like traffic jams or being interrupted may accumulate into sudden emotional outbursts.
These triggers highlight that the amygdala doesn’t differentiate between physical danger and social or emotional stress.
Even minor stressors can feel like threats to the brain, causing reflexive emotional reactions before rational thought can intervene.
Mental Health and Trauma Links
The amygdala is strongly implicated in several mental health conditions, particularly anxiety disorders.
Hyperactivation has been observed in social anxiety disorder and specific phobias, where individuals show heightened, irrational reactions to feared situations (Etkin, Tor, & Wager, 2007).
Similar patterns occur in panic disorder, PTSD, and OCD, all of which involve stronger emotional responses and difficulties with regulation.
Past trauma also sensitizes the amygdala. Research shows that early life adversity or childhood maltreatment lowers the threshold for emotional reactivity, making hijacks more likely (Yan, 2012; Adamec & Shallow, 2000).
Chronic stress further alters brain circuits, impairing regions like the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex that normally help keep the amygdala in check (Roozendaal et al., 2009).
As a result, people with trauma histories or ongoing stress may overreact to everyday triggers, struggle with emotional regulation, and experience more frequent hijacks.
Why Amygdala Hijacks Matter
Short-term consequences
During a hijack, the amygdala overrides the frontal lobes, narrowing attention and shutting down clear thinking.
This can lead to impulsive choices such as snapping at someone, walking out of a meeting, or escalating conflict.
Once the reaction passes, many people feel guilt, embarrassment, or regret for overreacting.
Long-term effects
Repeated hijacks can damage relationships by creating cycles of mistrust or ongoing conflict.
Over time, chronic emotional overreactions place strain on mental health. As previously mentioned, heightened amygdala activity is observed in anxiety disorders, PTSD, OCD, and phobias, meaning those affected may be especially vulnerable to frequent hijacks.
This can create a feedback loop where reactivity worsens stress and reduces the brain’s capacity to regulate emotions.
When hijacks can be useful
Although often disruptive, hijacks evolved for survival. In emergencies—such as stepping out of the way of a speeding car—the amygdala’s rapid response can act before conscious thought, keeping us safe.
In modern life, however, the same reflex can misfire, turning everyday stress into disproportionate reactions.
How to Manage amygdala hijack
Amygdala hijacking is often inevitable and can happen to anyone. It cannot always be prevented, but the key is to be aware of when it is happening and learn how to respond to it in a healthy way rather than being quick to react.
Goleman proposed that in order to manage amygdala hijacks, people must increase their emotional intelligence.
He proposed five essential competencies for increasing emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.
- Self-awareness:
Being self-aware is the ability to recognize a feeling as it is happening. In order to prevent the amygdala from overriding rational thought, a person must identify an emotional response and manage its control over the situation. Self-awareness gives people the skills to distinguish between helpful and unhelpful emotions. - Self-regulation:
To be able to self-regulate means that emotions can be managed. It is the ability to connect to, or process emotions first before reacting. People who can self-regulate can respond logically with cognitive thought instead of reacting emotionally without forethought. An emotionally intelligent person can recognize when a hijack is coming and attempt to prevent an undesired reaction. - Motivation:
An emotionally intelligent person, according to Goleman, is someone who strives to satisfy their intrinsic motivation in work and other activities, regardless of external incentives. - Empathy:
An empathetic person can recognize the emotions in others. Through this, people can be understanding, aware of, and sensitive to others’ feelings and work to utilize this ability to manage their own emotions, promote healthy emotions, as well as coming to a positive result in a conflict. - Social skills:
According to Goleman, those who are emotionally intelligent are good at interpersonal communication. Those with strong social skills should be able to have good conflict-resolution skills. Thus, in times when a conflict may arise, those with strong social skills can react and respond to others in a positive way.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is another method that can be utilized to prevent amygdala hijack. Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present in the moment, aware of the self, where one is, and what one feels.
In a way, mindfulness employs similar techniques to the competencies of emotional intelligence proposed by Goleman. In this way, mindfulness could also improve a person’s emotional intelligence.
Mindfulness is usually a technique that needs regular practicing for better effects, rather than just implementing the techniques when about to experience an amygdala hijack.
One way to help to focus during mindfulness practice is to actively control breathing, focusing on how the body responds to the breath.
Practicing mindfulness can help people to control the body’s responses better when experiencing a reaction and helps individuals to feel more present in the moment and engaged in responses.
Stress management
Being able to manage stress, in general, may help prevent amygdala hijacks from occurring. It may be useful for some to make themselves aware of what their stressors or triggers are.
These could be small or large triggers. Making a note of when everyday stressors turns into chronic stress can help with identifying ways to manage this stress.
Effective stress management can include fast-acting relievers such as breathing exercises, which can bring immediate relief. As well as this, general healthy habits can be utilized to reduce overall stress, such as regular exercise, meditation, and using a journal.
Coping with amygdala hijack
Whilst using preventative measures to ensure amygdala hijacks do not happen, there are times when these situations can still occur.
When someone may feel that an amygdala hijack may be happening, there are some methods to help cope with the situation.
Name the emotion
Recognizing and naming the emotion when it happens can shift connections back to the frontal lobes since this requires the use of language and analysis. Even simply stating ‘I am mad’ could be enough to make this feeling less intense and bring back a rational mindset.
6-second rule
It can take the chemical involved in the amygdala response to dissipate. Therefore, delaying any kind of response for about 6 seconds could prevent the amygdala from taking control and causing an emotional reaction.
Whilst delaying the response, this time could be used for taking the time to think about something positive or to focus on breathing.
Breathing
Breathing can be a powerful tool during a heightened situation as it can trigger the parasympathetic nervous system to bring about a restful bodily response. Taking control of breathing in stressful situations can allow thoughtful decisions which are not driven by emotions.
Change the setting
By getting up and moving around in stressful situations, the surroundings are automatically considered, which reactivates the thinking part of the brain.
Also, taking some time out away from the stressful situation in times of feeling out of control can help individuals to get a better hold of their emotions and see things from a rational perspective.
Share the mental load
When feeling a lot of emotions, sharing feelings with a trusted person can split the mental load and help our amygdala feel less threatened. Likewise, the use of language in highly emotional situations encourages the use of the thinking part of the brain.
Draw on mindfulness
While practicing mindfulness may be important, drawing on the techniques used in practice can help someone move away from negative internal feelings and back to the present by paying attention to the surroundings.
Considerations
It is important to remember that amygdala hijack may not be preventable in every situation and that it is realistic to expect setbacks. When these happen, it may be useful to take some time to acknowledge the actions of what happened and reflect on this.
This can help shift towards a mindful way of viewing the experience and may provide some useful insight into how to avoid this situation again next time.
References
Adamec, R., & Shallow, T. (2000). Rodent anxiety and kindling of the central amygdala and nucleus basalis. Physiology & behavior, 70(1-2), 177-187.
Etkin, A., & Wager, T. D. (2007). Functional neuroimaging of anxiety: a meta-analysis of emotional processing in PTSD, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobia. American journal of Psychiatry, 164(10), 1476-1488.
Goleman D. (2005). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. New York, NY: Bantam Books.
Howell, T. J. (2014). Daniel Goleman–Emotional Intelligence. University of Denver University College.
Hughes, K. C., & Shin, L. M. (2011). Functional neuroimaging studies of post-traumatic stress disorder. Expert review of neurotherapeutics, 11(2), 275-285.
Kulkarni, M. (2014). Amygdala: A Beast to Tame.
Roozendaal, B., McEwen, B. S., & Chattarji, S. (2009). Stress, memory and the amygdala. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(6), 423-433.
Yan, X. (2012). Amygdala, childhood adversity and psychiatric disorders. The Amygdala: A Discrete Multitasking Manager, 303.
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